Ethel Lorenz, 95, of Eastman, Wisconsin died Thursday, June 22, 2017 at Sannes Skogdalen Heim Nursing Home in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. Ethel Irene, the daughter of Harrison and Nettie (Kramer) Matti, was born June 15, 1922 in Bloomington, Wisconsin. Ethel was baptized and confirmed at the Methodist Church in Bloomington. She attended the Sioux Coulee Rural School and graduated from Prairie du Chien High School in 1940. While attending high school, to earn her room and board, Ethel was a nanny for the Steiner family in Prairie du Chien. After her graduation, Ethel worked in Madison, Wisconsin until she met Joseph Lorenz.
Joe and Ethel were united in marriage on December 27, 1944. To this union, four sons were born. Ethel and Joe lived in Prairie du Chien before moving to a farm near Eastman, Wisconsin. Ethel helped Joe farm and run a milk route. She then started working for National Decorative Metals. After that business closed, she worked for McGregor Electronics for several years and then she worked for Advanced Transformer in Boscobel, Wisconsin. She retired in 1992.
In her retirement, Ethel published the book “A History of the One Room Schoolhouses of Crawford County” while working with the Historical Society. She loved geneology and had traced her Matti family history back to Switzerland.
Ethel was fiercely loyal to her family often supporting them and their sporting events. She also loved hosting her grandchildren on the farm during the summer months. She was an avid gardener, a lifelong blood donor, and collector of plates of all the states she had visited. She referred to her farm as “my beautiful little corner of Wisconsin” and woe to the odd varmint that crossed her path.
Ethel is survived by her sons, Gari (Jayne Prew) Lorenz of Wauzeka, Wisconsin; Mark Lorenz of Ferryville, Wisconsin; Robert Lorenz of Wauzeka, Wisconsin; and Larry (Pamela) Lorenz of Eastman, Wisconsin; four grandchildren, Michael (Amy Gordon), Nicholas, and Matthew Lorenz; and Katie (Seth) Adams; six great grandchildren, Alissa, Nathan, Samual, Gage, Taryn, and Pilot; two brothers, H. Neil Matti of Gillette, Wyoming; and Sherwood (Donna) Matti of Eastman, Wisconsin; two sisters-in-law, Anne Matti of Cedarburg, Wisconsin; and Marion Taylor of Bloomington, Wisconsin; brother-in-law, Jim Peterson of Medford, Wisconsin; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Ethel was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph; who died in 1973; her parents; one sister, Leila Peterson; and a brother, Gaylord Matti.
Funeral Services will be at 2:00 pm on Sunday, June 25, 2017 at Salem United Methodist Church, Eastman, Wisconsin with Rev. Lynn Schreck as the Officiant. There will be a two hour visitation before services from 12-2 pm at the church on Sunday.
Burial will follow at National Cemetery, Eastman, Wisconsin.
Thornburg-Grau Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin is helping the family with the arrangements.